I've been a BPB fan since the first Palace album in the early 90s, though I've only seen him 4-5 times over the years. The reason for this is because Will Oldham is about as hit-or-miss as any artist I've ever known. Saw him about 7 years ago and it was an amazing concert, with a super-tight band and great song selection. But I've also seen him where it's just him and a guitar and my god it was boring.
Overall, I would say the 2011 show at the Birchmere was pretty good in that had features of his best and worst shows. When it was great, like You Want that Picture, it was fabulous. But as stated by another reviewer, Oldham has this awful weakness for these 10 minute melodramatic, spacey dirges that go on forever. No song should have 1-2 second gaps in it, in an effort to prove how "amazing" this music is supposed to be, and too many tunes seemed to strive for majesty but were just dull.
It always kind of amazes me when performers pull these out repeatedly. Sure, a couple slower songs can help provide some variety, but half the set were practically atonal, beatless, rhythmless slogs.